Dazed And Confused

There is an article in today’s Wall Street Journal about the number of different toothpastes for sale today. It’s mind blowing! According to the article 69 new toothpastes were introduced last year. This is down from 102 the year before. The focus of the article was all the confusion this has caused consumers when shopping for toothpaste. Could the live event and entertainment industry ever have this problem too?

I don’t see us ever putting out that many shows that are so similar at the same time but I do think we need to be careful. In the concert business we tend to bunch tours all into the same time of the year. Summer is a perfect example. Before anyone writes me, I am a big fan of summer shed shows! I grew up with them! However, if one venue books too many concerts with the same music format isn’t it possible we could have a toothpaste problem?

Let’s look at the family show business. In the past I have marketed Ringling Bros. Circus at the same time that two other circuses were on sale in the same town. Even though my show had the biggest brand name, doesn’t all the circus shows get hurt?

What about the same brand name with several different themes? We have this happening all the time. I live in a TV market that has more than two cities as part of the market. I have seen TV spots for the same brand name of a show but with a different theme running at the same time. Is it possible that the consumer could get confused?

If the toothpaste companies can come up with 100 different versions, why can’t they just blend them into one great toothpaste?